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SPEECH 



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ON THE 



BILL TO CONFISCATE THE PKOPERTY AND FEEE 
THE SLAVES OF REBELS; 



DELIVERED 



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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 30, 1862. 



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WASHlNaTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1862. 



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SPEECH. 



The Senate liaving under consideration the bill (S. 
No. 151) to confiscate tlie property and free the slaves of 
rebels — 

Mr. WRIGHT said: 

Mr. President: Without detaining the Sen- 
ate at any great length, I propose to state some 
of the reasons which will control my action on 
the pending propositions. 1 am in favor of some 
measure for the confiscation of the property of 
tliose in rebellion against the Government. Too 
long, already, in my judgment, have we delayed 
the discharge of this duty, imposed upon us for 
the speedy suppression of an armed rebellion, 
which has struck, with murderous intent, at the 
very vitals of this Republic. If Congress had truly 
felt the necessities of the occasion, if, instead of 
acquiescence in a policy of leniency towards these 
conspiratO)'s, we had held the reins of Government 
firmly in our grasp, a confiscation law would 
liave been enacted at the called session, and have 
been now upon the statute-book, a terror to trai- 
tors. It would seem tliat, until within a recent 
period, we have gone on as though there was not a 
great war upon us, which demanded seriouslegis- 
lation and earnest effort at our hands. If that im- 
pression had not yet been removed from the minds 
of Senators when Congress came together in De- 
cember last, it can no longer exist, when the whole 
valley of the iVIississippi trembles beneath the fierce 
conflict of vast armies. We must be alive, sir, to 
the exigency of the hour. This monster rebel- 
lion must be destroyed, and destroyed speedily; 
and as one of the means for the accomplishment 
of that 'Object, I look to the passage of some prop- 
osition for the confiscation of the property of rebels. 

This proceeding is absolutely necessary. It will 
strike a heavier blow against the rebellion than 
an army with banners.' Now, when the power 
of this Government has been displayed upon land 
and sea, it proclaims to the deluded masses of the 
South that the only way in which they can save 
themselves and their property, escape from an- 
archy and bloodshed , enjoy peace and prosperity, 
and once more live under a beneficent, free Gov- 
ernment, is to lay down the arms which they have 
taken up for its destruction. If they persist in 



their madness, then let the vengeance of outraged 
justice pursue them to the death. We have for- 
borne until forbearance has grown to be dishonor. 
Treason has run riot in the land. It is time that 
lawlessness should cease, whether under a pre- 
tended government in the rebellious States, or in 
the more insidious guise of " freedom of speech," 
which gloats over every obstacle that can be 
brought forward to prevent or retard the resto- 
ration of the Union. It is time that rapine and 
murder should be called by their right names, and 
punished as they deserve. I would ^irectthe op- 
era.tions of this law against the instigators of the 
rebellion, against the leaders of its army — those 
who hold its executive appointments, the mem- 
bers of the confederate conventions and legis- 
latures, and all those who have deceived and 
infuriated the southern masses against this Gov- 
ernment. They should be made to feel, in their 
persons and in their property, the disasters which 
afiiict those whom they have led to the brink of 
destruction. I would impoverish them as they 
have impoverished their own people. TheDavises 
and Slidells, the Yulees and Masons, the Beaure- 
gards and Johnsons, the Breckinridges and Ben- 
jamins, who have sought the annihilation of the 
Republic that nourished, honored, and protected 
them, spreading desolation throughout the south- 
ern States, and who have been remorseless in car- 
rying out the promptings of their unholy ambi- 
tion, cannot expect from this Congress any oUier 
ti-eatment than that of a rigid enforcement of the 
sternest penalties of justice. It is a duty that v/e 
owe to our country, that we owe to posterity, to 
the peace and happiness of our citizens, and to 
the perpetuity of our institutions. 

I would provide no way of escape for those 
who, with reference to a possible hour of their 
country's peril, had been educated for and sup- 
ported in its Army and Navy, and then, when that 
hour came, went over to its enemies. We must 
make it understood that wo educate and sup- 
port men for their country's service, not to officei- 
rebel armies. 

There may be a certain class of civil function- 
aries, for instance in the local judiciary, as sug- 



4. 



gested by the reference of tiie Senator from Ver- 
mont to the case of Chief Justice Hale, whose 
duties might differ little whether they aclcnowl- 
edged to confederate or Federal Government, and 
towards whom lenity might be shown. Still that 
case is not apposite, because Cromwell's Govern- 
ment was established at home and acknowledged 
abroad. 

It is not ray design to enter into an examina- 
tion of all tlie details of a confiscation law. It 
may suffice, at the present time, if I avow that, 
in the execution of that law, I should much jire- 
fer the requisite proceedings should be taken be- 
fore some judicial tribunal, and that there should 
be invested in the President of the United States 
a general power of granting amnesty. Such a 
provision will, I think, do away with all honest 
objection to the passage of this measure. 

Now, sir, I have no patience for long disquisi- 
tions upon the power of Congress to pass an act 
of confiscation. It is not denied that we have the 
power to declare war and to suppress rebellion. 
Having the power to declare war and to suppress 
rebellion, have we not also the power for the vig- 
orous and successful prosecution of these objects? 
The greater power certainly includes the lesser 
one. By depriving the rebels of their means for 
continuing this rebellion we go a great way to- 
wards securing its extinction. But av/ay with 
these quibbles about the constitutionality of this 
proposition or that proposition. Instead of grant- 
ing powers, and also affording all the necessary 
means for their execution, it would seem to be the 
belief of those who so frequently advance the ob- 
jection of UBConstitutionality, that the Constitu- 
tion has conferred powers never intending they 
should be exercised; that it is so fettered as to be 
incapable of making a struggle for the preserva- 
tion of the integrity of the Government to which 
it gave birth. 1 may say, sir, outside of all ques- 
tions of constitutionality in times of great peril to 
our free institutions, when recreant and disloyal 
citizens in a large section of the country rise in 
rebellion, spurn -the Constitution, defy the laws, 
and resist the authority of the Government, there 
is one duty supreme and absorbing, a duty to 
which all others are subordinate — the dutyofself- 
preservalion, the safety of the Union from disruption, 
and of the Constitution from annihilation. Every- 
thing opposed to the existence of the Government 
must be made to yield, or be swept off with an iron 
hand. That the State may live, all minor consid- 
erations must be neglected, all inferior interests 
must perish. 

I wish to refer, for a moment, to the character 
of the war in which we are now engeged, in order 
that the mind may not be led astray by citations 
from and references to authorities which have and 
can have no application to this subject. There are 
two kinds of war; the one I may denominate a 
perfect war, and the other a mixed war. A per- 
fect war is where one nation declares war against 
another nation; and it has laws which are as well 
understood, and which must be adhered to as 
strictly, as any other laws. A mixed war, on the 
contrary, is a rebellion or insurrection of a por- 
tion of the people of a country against the Gfov- 
ernment. : It is against law, in defiance of author- 



ity, and meets with no encouragement from the 
laws of nations. In a perfect war, the citizens or 
subjects of one country are each and all the ene- 
mies of the citizens or subjects with wbjch it is 
carrying on hostilities. They are so recognized 
and so treated in the laws of war. There is no 
exception. All those owing allegiance to the one 
nation are the foes of the other. It is far different 
in a mixed war. In that case, the loyal citizens 
are the enemies of the disloyal citizens. When 
we declare war against the rebellion in the South 
we do notdeclare waragainstthe States, oragainst 
independent nationalities. Our hostilities are only 
directed against those who have taken up arms 
against the Government, and those who i-ender 
them assistance; and the end which we seek is the 
suppression of the insurrection and the restoration 
of order. We do not declare that the citizens of 
all the seceded States shall be considered as alien 
enemies; that the innocent shall be involved in 
ruin with the guilty; that there shall be no dis- 
crimination between those who are loyal and those 
who are disloyal; but we ask, and in no measure 
more plainly than the one before us, that there 
shall be a discrimination, that there shall be a 
method of determining between the true men and 
the false, and where we shall inflict severe punish- 
ment and where extend the protecting help or the 
clemency of this Government. 

A war, strictly speaking, is between independ- 
ent Powers. Its laws are a branch of that code 
known as international law. No single member 
of the family of nations can establish, alter, or 
amend them; butasuggestion made by one Power 
becomes, when approved by others, a part of the 
code. Our present contest may, on the contrary, 
as I have already said, be called a mixed war — one 
of the parties standing to the other in the double 
relation of enemies and citizens. In other words, 
it is a mere multiplication of crimes committed by 
individual citizens until the attempt of the Gov- 
ernment to put them down has grown to the di- 
mensions and assumed the name of a war; which 
crimes may be dealt with in detail under the names 
of murder, theft, arson, as the case may be or 
comprehended under the name of treason, which 
expresses the animus of the whole. The moment 
we come to regard it in an aggregate or organized 
character, we are in danger of giving it a recog- 
nition which we should take care to avoid. The 
conflict of armies, one of which is made up of 
these felons, should be viewed as neither more nor 
less than the result of an attempt to arrest them 
for these crimes. 

The Senator from Vermont, [Mf. Collamer,] 
who has made some of the happiest discrimina- 
tions between this rebellion and a proper war, has 
not, in my opinion, quite escaped the error which 
he combats. He seems to regard the rebels as a 
Power, and not as felons, separately guilty of the 
crimes committed by them; and half approves of 
England's recognition of them as a belligerent 
Power. He says that the war should be conducted 
in accordance with the law of nations, perhaps 
meaning that the principles of humanity recog- 
nized by the civilized and Christian world should 
be observed in its prosecution. If this be the 
meaning, no one will question the justice of the 



remark. But if it means, as might be inferred, 
that foreign Powers have a right to call us to ac- 
count for neglecting the maxims of international 
warfare and pursuing our own course, I utterly 
dissent from the view. 

If the Senator was right in the views he took, 
we miglit as well, on the ground of international 
law, have claimed to interfere against the oppres- 
sions of the Austrian, or the late Neapolitan Gov- 
ernment, and surely no Government on earth ever 
outraged humanity more than they did. And yet 
I have never learned of any interference of this 
Government, or of any civilized Government, with 
the Neapolitan Government, calling in question 
the treatment of their criminals or those engaged 
in rebellion. 

The Senate will pardon me while I allude to one 
incident, illustrative of their treatment of those 
engaged in rebellion. It will be borne in mind by 
many Senators that about sixty refugees from the 
Neapolitan Government were directed to be sent 
to this country. JVIany of them bad been impris- 
oned for ten years, and doubtless the Senate will 
remember one little incident of that venerable old 
man, called Simbrini. He had lain for ten years 
in prison, until the chains had worn deep holes 
in his wrists, and when he was put on board the 
vessel, he told this remarkable story : " The first 
year I was in prison I had about two inches of 
light, and there was a tree before my prison bars 
and a little bird came and sang for me for some 
weeks, but his Majesty happened to hear of it, 
and he had the bird shot." And yet I never heard 
of any Government calling in question the acts of 
that Government. There wasaparty in rebellion 
against an established Government. Surely it 
cannot be said by implication here that any Gov- 
ernment would have the right to call in question 
our treatment of criminals in our own land. 

Military commanders may, for want of definite 
instruction and as mere matters of convenience, 
follov/ the maxims of the public laws of war. But 
a Government is bound by no such considerations 
where its own citizens are the other belligerent 
party, unless it be in case of blockade, which, as 
affecting the world's commerce, is matter of in- 
ternational law. It seems true, sir, that we have 
ail fcillen more or less into the error we v/ould all 
avoid. Why should our armies restrict their 
seizures of rebel property to that found in rebel 
camps and contraband of war according to the 
international cede? If this is for want of proof 
that property in private hands belongs to rebels, 
it is right; but if it is on the ground that we are 
bound to observe the rules of international war- 
fare, and recognize only organized bodies, it is 
wrong. 

We seem to be under the delusion that this is 
properly a war, instead of a contest for the arrest 
and punishment of our own citizens, who have 
committed felony, and every one of whom is in- 
dividually responsible for the crimes of this re- 
bellion, and might be adjudged to the death pen- 
alty under existing law; a view which transforms 
the measure now before the Senate from an aspect 
of sanguinary cruelty to one of unheard of clem- 
ency — a measure providing for the release of the 
great body of criminals from the penalty of vio- 



lated law, and reserving only a few leaders to pun- 
ishment. 

I hold, sir, that every loyal citizen of South 
Carolina, or of Mississippi, or of any other of the 
.rebellious States, is as much entitled to the rights 
and privileges of this Government as the loyal cit- 
izens of New York, or Indiana, or any other of 
the loyal States. To listen to any other teach- 
ings, to adopt any other policy, would be rank 
injustice. We should therefore be very careful 
not to countenance in the slightest degree any 
proposition looking to the destruction of the States 
and the organization of tsn-itorial government 
within their limits, for in direct terms we would 
admit the foul doctrine of secession. Therefore 
I say, with all due respect, the less favor we show 
towards a measure like that of the Senator from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Sumner] the better, for if it 
were passed I fear it would be an invitation to the 
great Powers of Europe to 'recognize and give 
force to this revolution. This Government denies 
with all its energy that under the Constitution 
there can be any such thing as the secession of a 
State. It does not look upon this rebellion as the 
act of the States, but as the act alone of the indi- 
viduals who have engaged in it. 

Mr. President, this powerful nation needs a 
strong Government. By temporizing and by the 
want of firmness and decision we foster and tol- 
erate enemies in all parts of the country. What 
the people demand and will have is a strong Gov- 
ernment to punish promptly and completely the 
monstrous and unparalleled crimes which have 
been committed against its authority. Justice cries 
aloud for vengeance upon the banded traitors who 
have conspired to destroy this Government. They 
have perpetrated the highest crime against God 
and civilization; and there can be no enduring 
peace until they have been made to pay the pen- 
alty. We are not only contending for unity and 
the supremacy of the lav/, but for the respect of 
the great nations of the earth. By the vigorous 
prosecution of this war, and by meting out the 
terrible vengeance which this rebellion has called 
down upon its leaders, we will have taken a sure 
means to prevent any future renewal of the hor- 
rors of civil war, and impress the nations with the 
power and stability of the Republic, and the haz- 
ards which they would run in interfering with our' 
aflfairs. 

I am tired of hearing the leaders, those who 
have brought on this war, called our brethren. 
They do not deserve any favors at our hands. 
They have shocked the civilization of the age, 
and have committed barbarities almost unparal- 
leled in history. Shall we call those our brethren 
who have brought sorrow and sultering to almost 
every hearthstone in our country? Shall we call 
those our brethren v/ho have armed the savages 
and commissioned them for the perpetration of all 
manner of fiendish atrocities ? Will cooing and 
soft words change the heart of those assassins 
who, in the midnight watches, stealthily creep 
upon the pickets of our armies and murder them 
in cold blood? Do our brethren insult the life- 
less bodies of our patriot soldiers? Do they bury 
them with their face downwards, or pilfer their 
srraves and dishonor their bones, and do other vile 



6 



acts which we could expect only from vampires 
and cannibals? No, Mr. President, these are not 
our ijrethren. They are our mortal foes, and we 
must deprive them of all powerfor mischief. 

I need not, for the purpose I have in view, more 
than casually refer to the sublime spectacle of the 
rising of the American people to maintain tlie ex- 
istence of their imperiled Government. It has as- 
tonished the world, and extorted admiration even 
from the antagonists of republican institutions. 
The greatest of modern armies has been gathered, 
equipped, disciplined, and put into the field with- 
out resorting, in any instance, to conscription. 
Men have not only implored that the x^dministra- 
tion should tax tliem and their property, in order 
that it may have ample means for the vigorous 
prosecution of this war, but, with a divine enthu- 
siasm, they stand ready to seal their devotion to 
the Union with their hearts' blood. They have 
never yet faltered in liie good work. Notwith- 
standing all that Indiana has done so far in this 
contest, yet I am informed, from the best author- 
ities in that State, so eager are the people in the 
suppression of this rebellion that they would to- 
morrow uncomplainingly, if the necessities of the 
houi' demanded it, feed and clothe the sixty thou- 
sand troops which she has sent into the field. 
Contributions of every description pour in from 
all quarters, to be used for the purpose of secur- 
ing every comfort to her brave sons, who, upon 
almost every recent battle-field, have won imper- 
ishable renown. When the citizens of the coun- 
try have done and are doing so well, shall we 
neglect the high trust which they have confided 
to us.' They look to this Congress to pass some 
measure for the confiscation of the property of 
rebels, and I for one am not willing to disappoint 
their just expectation. They do not ask it from 
any sordid motive, or because of malignant hatred 
to the South, but for the reason that it is neces- 
sary to subserve the ends of justice. Do not let 
us palter with them in a double sense, but let us 
at once come up to the discharge of our obliga- 
tions to them and to the Government. 

I regard this as one of a series of acts essential 
to put down this rebellion. As our armies advance 
into the regio.ns where treason is rampant, they 
'must be subsisted upon the enemy, and it is in- 
cumbent upon us to make provision for that pur- 
pose. It is a fact not to be disguised that there 
are very many men who have waxed fat and grown 
rich from the supplies which they have furnished 
to our troops at enormous prices — men who at best 
only abstain from cooperation in the insurrection 
because of the overwhelming forces of the Union 
which happen to surround them. They would 
like to see this war protracted until the Treasury 
was at its last gasp. What care they for the dis- 
tresses that may befall others so long as their cof- 
fers are filled with Federal gold? I would not have, 
Mr. President, our soldiers, as they have done in 
Virginia, go starving through the rich regions of 
their.enemies. As our flag presses forward toward 
the Gulf States, let any of the landed proprietors 
who have granaries bursting with grain and pas- 
tures full of cattle be questioned, and they will 
tell you, while refusing food to our soldiers, except 
at starvation rates, that their sons and their neigh- 



bors ai-e in open hostility to the Federal Govern- 
ment. These men, who not long before gave up 
their produce with the freedom of a spendthrift to 
support the rebel cause, must not be permitted to 
adopt a dog-in-the-manger policy when tlic Union 
armies have fought their way into their midst. 

What has been the result of the declarations of 
our commanding generals, that the property even 
ofthe most venomous secessionist shall be guarded, 
and that to touch it will be followed with the pen- 
alty of death ? Only renewed and more astound- 
ing extortions upon our troops and upon the Gov- 
ernment. Those whose sex protect them from 
personal injury may, in their insane fury, insult 
our wounded and dying as they are carried to the 
hospitals, and yet, as things now are, the estates 
where they reside, and which have been aban- 
doned by husbands and sons, to join the confed- 
erate army, are fruitful only for the enemies of the 
Republic, and as unproductive as the desert for the 
soldiers of the Union. We must change all this, 
and those who have broken the public peace ought 
to be made to subsist those who have come to 
restore order. It will have a magnetic effect in 
terminating this civil strife, when the southern 
people know that they will be compelled to sub- 
sist our armies so long as treason shall require 
their presence among them. If we pay exorbi- 
tantly for subsistence of our troops, the desire 
then will be that the \\?'ar shall be protracted rather 
than brought to a speedy termination. Such a 
measure as I have indicated is next in importance 
to the one for the confiscation of rebel property, 
and I feel assured, in advance, that in casting my 
vote for them both, I shall have the hearty ap- 
plause of the State which I am proud, in part, to 
represent. I know the feeling ofthe people there. 
I know that it is one of undying hostility to this 
rebellion and of uncompromising fidelity to the 
Government. 

It will not, of course, be supposed that I object 
to strict orders against soldiers pillaging the prop- 
erty even of known rebels. This is right. TJie 
armies of the Government should be subsisted by 
the rebels only under regulations prescribed by 
the Government, and not by the liberty of indis- 
criminate pillage. 

There is one instance which I will state: fifty 
years ago four brothers left their father's home in 
the'Green mountainsof Vermont, and two of them 
settled in Virginia; the remaining two in my own 
State. One ofthe brothers in Virginia died, and 
the other brother and his nephew have been amoi>g 
the promoters of the existing rebellion. One of 
them went so far as to contribute 015,000 to arm 
his poor relations against this Government. The 
brothers in Indiana, whose sons are in the armies 
of the Republic, and who have contributed largely 
of their means to carry on this war, indignantly 
demand that the old homestead of their revolu- 
tionary father, now owned by traitor sons, shall be 
confiscated to the use ofthe Government. There 
comes'up from these loyal men no cringing appeal 
for forbearance, but, on the contrary, the expres- 
sion of a hope that exemplary punishment shall 
be inflicted upon those who have disgraced their 
heroic ancestry, and with parricidal hands have 
struck at the existence of the Union which trave 



i 



them prosperity and protection. This is not a 
single case. There are tiiousands like it; and they 
all speak of the noble and unwavering courage of 
the citizens of the loyal States. 

Mr. President, outside of the loathing and ab- 
horrence which I feel towards the conspirators 
who instigated this accursed rebellion, if I know 
my own heart, it entertains no unmanly prejudice, 
and is fired with no unholy fanaticism against the 
southern people. But I cherish the free institu- 
tions of America as a sacred legacy to be preserved 
at all hazards and at whatever cost. Such, too, 
I am confident, is the motive which controls the 
people of Indiana. They have been lavish of their 
treasure and of their blood to justify their faith by 
deeds; and I may be pardoned when I state that 
the heroism of her brave sons, in defense of the 
integrity of this Government, has more than once 
during this war gained the grateful tribute of praise 
from the American people. Full of the patriotism 
of the ancient republics, they will cling to their 
country through every peril, and against all foes, 
at home or abroad, with the tenacity of death. 
That the nation may live, they will use all the means 
which God has given them to suppress this insur- 
rection. They believe that these measures will 
"^eatly conduce to that end, and with that view, 
and none other, I shall extend to them my hearty 
support. 

We are all united in the sentiment that the in- 
tegrity of the Union must be vindicated and its 
authority fully restoi-ed. Our differences of opin- 
ion as to the means of consummating these ob- 
jects should not lead us to neglect the employment 
of all our just powers in view of the fearful con- 
sequences which would ensue from our omission 
to do so. If we cannot agree as to the precise 
grant of power in the Constitution, we can agree, 
if we approach the question in a proper and con- 
ciliatory spirit, upon some general and definite 
plan of operations, by which we can aid the Pres- 
ident in the discharge of his high duty of seeing 
that the laws are faithfully executed. If the Con- 
stitution has withheld from us the power to direct 
the President, we must, from necessity, possess 
the power to advise hum; and nobody who knows 
the President will doubt that he will receive our 
advice in a proper and becoming spirit. Such a 
definite plan will relieve him from the unavoidable 
consequences which have ensued from the con- 
flicting opinions of our commanding generals, 
which havealready been the occasion of reproach 
to us among the Governments of Europe. And 
the whole country will then know, as the Army 
advances, the precise policy to be established. 
The eyes of the whole civilized world are upon 
us; and if we expect to excite the admiration of 
mankind, we must act as becomes a great nation, 
conscious of its integrity and power, and resolved 
to maintain both at whatever hazard. If left to 
mysel? to prescribe a course of action, I would 
give notice of sixty or ninety days to all who par- 
ticipate in the rebellion that they must lay down 
their arms and return to their allegiance, or in de- 
fault of so doing that they must take all the con- 
sequences of their unnatural and most iniquitous 
attempt to overthrow and destroy the best Gov- 
ernment upon earth. I feel an abiding confidence 



that a large proportion of them would rejoice at 
the opportunity to do so, and that such a measure 
would be attended with the happiest results, that 
the trade and commerce of the country would then 
revive as our conquering Army should advance, 
and that the end would be the speedy suppression 
of the rebellion. 

I might cite the last news we have from Nash- 
ville, and enlarge upon this point. Tennessee was 
certainly one of the strongest States that the lead- 
ers got into this rebellion. It nerved and strength- 
ened therebellion notonlyin men,butin i-esources; 
and yet it is now demonstrated beyond all contro- 
versy that the loyal men of Tennessee are the com- 
mercial and the trading men. Hundreds of them 
owing money in New York have been saving their 
cotton for the last fifteen months and piling it up 
in various little places, hoping soon for the deliv- 
erance which would enable them to send it to their 
creditors to pay their debts. As our Army goes 
on, these roads will be opened, and this sentiment 
of Union should be cultivated, and I believe the 
happiest consequences will result. To this end 
I would direct all the energies and resources of 
the Government, entertaining no sort of doubt 
about our powers under the Constitution to do 
what the necessities and exigencies of our con- 
dition require. 

Mr. Pi-esident, I have sat here restlessly day 
after day and heard questions raised such as were 
discussed this morning touching the arrest of cer- 
tain persons charged with treason. It may be 
doubted whether we have reallya Government as 
yet or not. Violence, lawlessness, and resistance 
to established authority are everywhere to be seen. 
The very atmosphere is full of treason. I can- 
not listen patiently to gentlemen who talk about 
power being assumed by a Secretary of State or 
by a President. In this dark hour ol" my coun- 
try, I know no limit to the power of the Presi- 
dent to do all he can to suppress the insurrection. 
He must make everything bend before that im- 
perative duty. I would not question it any more 
than I would think of pulling out Blackstone to 
inquire what my right of defense is when the 
assassin comes at me with the steel dagger. 1 
can say to my respected friend from Kentucky, 
in a free State, where the courts are open and 
there is no trouble, I think arrests without war- 
rant are unjustifiable; but it has been otherwise in 
the border slave States. The President and his 
Cabinet are not politically my friends; bull look 
to them most confidently for the discharge of their 
whole duty in these perilous times. So far as 
Kentucky was concerned, some improper arrests 
may have been made; but there were some that 
were not made that ought to have been made. 
There sat a man [poinUng to the seat formerly 
occupied by Mr. Breckinridge] who was nour- 
ished, fostered, and honored by the Government, 
who abused the high confidence reposed in him to 
lead off one third of the nation into armed rebel- 
lion against the best Government on earth. To 
him should have been meted out not only impris- 
oniBcnt, but the extreme penally of the law. Tell 
me not of the danger of preserving this Govern- 
ment by the power of a President and Secretary. 
Tell me not of the danger of allowing the Presi- 



8 




013 701 555 



dent to answer whether or not he can say that 
certain information cannot be communicated with- 
out danger to the public interest. It has been the 
practice of the Government heretofore, even when 
calling on the President to communicate treaties 
with the greatest nations of the earth, to ask him to 
do so provided it is not incompatible with the pub- 
lic interest; and shall we now, when treason fills 
the very air around us, and we may well say that 
itisdoubtful whether we have a Government, (for 
we are trying to bring order and governmentout of 
anarchy, insurrection, and treason;) tell us, can we 
not trust the Administration of the country to say 
what is compatible and what is incompatible? 



And I would implore the Senate to remember 
that in the great and important work before us, it 
is our solemn duty to rise up to the true dignity of 
statesmen, and lend our cooperation to whatsoever 
remedies may be found necessary to heal the dis- 
eases of the country, and to remove the poison of 
secession from our system of government. When 
this shall be done, we shall have the proud satis- 
faction of seeing our Government advance, with 
rein vigorated authority, until it shall become what 
ihe fathers of the Republic designed it should be, 
the leading Government of the earth — first in mil- 
itary power, and greatest in all the elements of 
wealth, happiness, and prosperity. 



p 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





013 701 555 9 ♦, 



